Saw this on CP24 and thought some of you would be interested.
Notice the stuff I put in bold, I know the source is CP24 but the wording is very broad and I'm curious as to what exactly this means...
Anyone what to elaborate on this?
I know there are some police officers on the board...

Article:

They prowl the streets while you sleep. They speed into the night before you can catch them. And they can leave devastation behind.

But they’re not robbers or home invaders. They’re street racers. And they literally have a license to kill. Now police across Ontario have pledged to crack down on the speed demons, who go at break neck rates down major roads under cover of darkness.

“It is in fact just a loaded weapon looking for a victim,” charges York Police Chief Armand La Barge.

Nancy Pennyfather can testify to that. Her daughter was killed in an accident caused by one of the devastating drivers. “The street racing is increasing so much,” she laments. “It’s more and more dangerous for all of us. I don’t want to lose another loved one.”

She’s equally outraged by the sentence given to the man convicted of the crime. He received two years for criminal negligence causing death and was given a lifetime driving ban. But he only served nine months.

La Barge insists his forces won’t let it happen again, helping to launch a program called ERASE – or Eliminate Racing Activities on Streets Everywhere.

“Since 1999, 29 people have been killed in the Greater Toronto Area, as a direct result of street racing activities.”

Police in all the G.T.A. cities, along with Barrie, South Simcoe, Guelph, Ottawa, London and Waterloo have been given special powers to seize and impound cars that have been specially modified for speed.

They’ll be using aerial and unmarked units and a few other tricks to turn the checkered flagwavers with some checkered pasts into a lot of future fines.

May 31, 2005

Article

Great just great. As if I don't get worried enough when I see a 5-0.

This is getting better and better every day.. I get nailed for 4 tickets and perhaps more now.

I get pulled over enough as it is for dumb reasons and basically from the sounds of it we could be put under the microscope.

I have lost count of how many times I have been pulled over for things like - "We had reports of a stolen vehicle and yours matched the description" or "We're just doing a random check".. now we can expect "Your car looks like it can go fast".

Sounds like we have some fun times ahead of us.

Hehe, I was watching that last night and then my wife turns to me and sais, "see you'd better be careful" I'm like please I only race when it's absolutely necessary . Besides I would just say to the officer if he pulled me over, that famous like from Dave Chapelle. "I'm sorry officer I didn't know I couldn't do that"

I think they have that special power since long time ago. I've heard many stories of being pulled over for no reason.

In a way I still agree with what they are doing, they idea is correct about stopping people from street racing. I hate street racing also. They can increase the fine, or imprisonment. But pulling cars that looks modified but driving within the speed limit? And specially those group of cops that stand by at Cayuga and catch the people who's going to race illegally on a track rather than street? That's wrong. I wish they rather spend more time to catch the actual speeder on the road at night.

No surprise. It's crap like that and crap like this that ruin it for the rest of us. I hate street racers.

"Special powers", what ever happened to probable cause? As if we don't get harassed enough in London especially.

People with modified cars are going get harrassed even if the wern't street racing. Here are some tips to minimize the impact.

Keep insurance and regisration up to date. This one is a no brainer.

Keep those documents in a easy to access spot dedicated to those documents only. Reasoning behind this is two fold. First quick access to documents makes the officers job easier. Second, when the officer starts poking around with his flashlight, he'll find nothing that he can make as an excuse to search the car.

Keep your car clean. I've had an officer look for excuses to give me more tickets one time cause I had a messy car. I use to keep my van very messy and at night it's very easy to confuse tools and toys as drug paraphanila. Don't give them a reason.

Keep the glove box locked or cleaned out. I've had an officer try to open my glove box one time when I was cruising. His reasoning was cause I was in a bad part of town (There are good parts of Brampton???) that I must have drugs in there. I told him I have it locked cause thats what I normally do. He did the old what do you have to hide routine and I told him nothing. And he stopped pestering me.

If the officer ever gives you a ticket, shut up and take it. Don't argue with him. That's not the time or the place. The time and the place is in court.

You also do 2 things by shutting up. You are not going to remain in his memory. That's good a thing when you come to court. Officers have a tendacy to lose notes and forget to show up if they don't remember who you are. They will show up and stick it to you if you are an ass. The 2nd thing is you don't incriminate your self. It's the old you know why I pulled you over routine? You answer cause I was speeding??? and there you go. you just admited you were speeding.

If you have a big mouth and can't shut up, then deny everything he accuses you with. When he asks why were you speeding, you answer with I wasn't speeding. Soem cops are dicks and will press on. For the most part if they are a dick to you, they will be a dick to every one else they meet. They probably won't recall who you were when you get to court.

Keep your car in good mechanical shape . Nothing says pull me over then a wobbly exhaust and burnt out lights. Except maybe a really loud exhaust.

Now for something we all have in common. Loud exhausts/BOV's. Don't be going WOT all the time. but your best bet is to be aware of your surroundings. Use your mirrors, do shoulder checks, and look up ahead, and you should be able to spot trouble long before he spots you. Albiet, those stealth cruisers and a-team vans have caught me by surprise a few times but never in a compromising situation.

So there you have it.
Keep the car clean.
Keep documents up to date
Keep documents in easy to access spot.
Keep car in good working order.
Keep your mouth shut.
Deny, deny, deny.
Keep aware of your surroundings.

There is one question I have though. Maybe Jon will chime in and answer for me. If you ask a person to get out of thier car for any reason and they lock the car doors after they get out, what action do the officers take?

Good Stuff Waldo.

I'll clench my jaw, show my teeth, and try to smile.


Does anyone by chance have that article or a link to it. It's regarding some young kid who had some people in his mom civic. He street raced, crashed, killed and injured some of his passengers. I remember it on Pulse24 (channel 24) in it's entirety.
Reporter: "Was the vehicle modified?"
Officer: "No"

And my other pet peeve that ruins it for the rest of us.

An officer can't search your glove box, trunk, or anything out of sight unrelated to the operation of the motor vehicle without just cause or your permission. You have recognized 'personal space' in your car protected under the Charter.

I'm guessing this does not include 'under the hood'.

As for under the hood, you dont have to open it if you dont want, but then its a $90 fine I think. Hmm tough choice, a $300 open air filter fine or $90, the air filter charge is one of the most bogus tickets out there.

That's right, ticket us for doing a better job at filtering the air our engines breath...

I agree that this is absolutely rediculous. I guess we'll all be going for the "sleeper" look. It's not bad out in the country where I live really, but I wouldn't want to be hassled when driving through the city.

They had a segment on the news about that last night too. I agree with where they are coming from but don't mess with people that aren't racing or speeding. I have too say though, I am not impressed on how they try to make people with modified cars sound like axe murderers. We don't go for a cruise in our car with the intent to kill. They will never stop people from modifying cars so they might as well take that money and spend it on something more useful. I also find it funny how on the news last night they only showed civics and integras racing. Is it just me or is it those damned cars that got us into this pile. Oh well. Keep racing off the streets.

man this stuff really gets to me....i looked up how many deaths due to motor vehicles there are in canada today compared to 20 years ago....

1985 - 4500+ deaths in Canada
2005 - 2800 deaths in Canada

what does that tell everyone?? The cars today are safer right? The best part of that...

There are over 21 million drivers Canada today, in 1985 there were less then 15 million.

I dont know for sure because in 1985 i was only 5 but i cant recall "street racing" being a problem back in 1985 when the stats were worse then they are today. Why is it such a problem now.
It looks to me like there are less drunk drivers then street racers now....maybe we should all buy cavaliers and start drivin drunk instead???...

I hate to see people racin on the highways and stuff just as much as the next guy, so take it to the track. Maybe the city of Toronto should make it more affordable and convenient for us to race in a closed track so we dont have to take it to the streets??
Next time i see a cop im gonna ask him if he wants to race me...j/k

just my 2 cents

Some time ago I saw a civic with the hood opened and 5 or 6 police officers looking clueless into the engine bay, they pulled over the car in a very small street so I guess the kid was not speeding or racing. That looked to me as a waist of resources, 3 police cruisers and a tow truck.
I agree with cracking down on street racing but they should find a better way to do it.
The police should put more attention to sex predators, paedophiles, drug dealers and drunk drivers. I think these four groups cause more damage than a street racer.

Thats BS. Cops are always looking for new ways to screw people. Im sure more people are killed by drivers under the influence or just plain old stupid drivers. I guess its time to paint the intercoolers black and put a cat on my car. We dont have e-testing in bruce county so I dont think Ive ever had one on any car ive owned. When I lived in London I saw lots of street racing. But no accidents because of it. Ive never even been pulled over in London...

Anyways, I say F the police. And their "Special powers". I cant wait to get to New Zealand. Where they organize legal street racing. I read that in sport compact car.

This is why having a sister that is does paralegal work is good. If I get a ticket, she can help me out with it.

Wow, just heard this on the radio. Right out of the cops mouth. "We are looking for modified vehicles, anything that looks different from stock. Any modified vehicle can be ticketed and is also a street racing suspect". WTF, so if you have a all show no go you can still get tickets. This is out of hand. I guess we can all be prepared to be harrased.

PS. The crackdown starts today apparently

I ignored you the first time you posted regarding me, even after I had noticed you give a thumbs up in the War Stories forum to someone racing a Mustang.

I fully agree with going after street racers but only in the act. Punishing all those with modified vehicles including the hobbiests who keep thier racing at the track is just plain the wrong thing to do.

The cops are way better off having the responsible people in the modified car group trying to talk sense to the young guys on thier level from within the group.

*COUGH* Profiling *COUGH*. This is no different then pulling someone over cause they are black.

This is a hilarious, as if our courts aren't backed up as it is. I bet 3/4 of the tickets handed out will thrown out. It is not illegal to modify a car. Most of you guys are older, but me at 17, I'm going to feel the most heat. I say we protest.

Forgot to mention, they'll probably be only going after males. Since males do make up the majority of the modified car scene, I doubt the few females in it will feel the pressure.

So if you own a gun are you a murder suspect and should be treated as such?

The "too loud exhaust" thing really burns me. Esspecially since last night when walking down the streets of T.O. after dinner, a Harly Davidson SCREAMED by us and nearly made me crap my pants and ears bleed. Even the loudest rice fart can I have heard isnt nearly as loud as some of those bikes.

My Roommate has an IS 300. The exhaust on it looks aftermarket but is stock and the rear lights and whatnot, you're telling me cops are experts now at reconizing a stock vehicle...come on. I can see it now, people with SRT-4s, 350Z's, etc being pulled over because a cop decides it's not stock. This will get ugly, they are going to be pulling over people that have influence on the city, governments, etc.
How about a new section for the board to post the stories under, I hope it doesn't get that carried away that we deal with it on a daily basis.

Really Good points Steve. I would have to agree with every bit of it. It will be interesting to see if they really follow through with all of this as seriousley as they say they are going to. It really could get pretty messy. Setting up a new section on the board is a good idea that way we can here how bad it is actually getting.

I think it's just BS... because ever since Fast and the Furious came out EVERY tom dick and harry thinks putting a fart can on a car with neons is cool! They then take there 20 second civic down a strip and almost kill someone because they think HELL if they can do it in the movies why not in Real life. I remember before the movie came out my buddy had a decent MX3 and it has a muffler and what not and we NEVER had a problem. But since F&F came out people are getting out of hand... I don't know about you guys but EVERYONE looks stock on my car. I wil be doing mods where NO one can see them. Plus what good is all those fancy glowing things and big wings. Stock rims, stock paint, Hell I'm going to keep the rust. I won't EVER have a problem. I had a 2G before with a nice wing body kit, nice paint, rims I was pulled over all the time wasn't even speeding. I remember I was driving down the road in my 4 dr family car neon. A civic with a fart can fly by me, cop pulls me over and said I was trying to race. I was like WTF are you talking about buddy. Just because I was beside the car when he took off. The only reason the civic never got in trouble is because I was stopped at the stop light with the cop beside me with 2 cars infront. the civic made it through the light. So what does that tell you! Best part he goes goto Cayuga! I go why so I can get pulled over there as well. Oh well STOCK look here I come

Geeze, it must be really bad there. Here in Hamilton ive been driving around on open 3" DP with no cop issues, even ran into a few ride programs and they didnt say a word.

There was some bill think c22 or something that tried to pass pretty sure in your province that was similar and tried to make basically any mod illegal.It didn't make it and likley if it had it would have been reversed. There are lots of powerful people driving old muslce cars and hopped up stuff ,lawyers..members of parliament.

These laws should never stand up in court.Its a joke and first thing every person can do that gets one of these tickets is plead not guilty.
Dont' use a lawyer unless you have a free one like relative but dont' make it easy .Tie up the darn courts. And write letters . Letters to the papers ,letters to mps !!

Now we are moving a bit more to this type of legal crap out here in Sask every year. Our government insurance is making up laws as they go and no votes are ever taken ,they just change the law and police start handing out fines and city makes more money and don't care. First it was noise it was like 110db and then 90db and now 83 db or something. I heard several new cars like mustang and vette don't make the new levels.

And you are right there are tons of bikes and other loud vehicles out there. Whats up with them?
Some of the rules make some sense..excessive lowering is not a good thing usually although properly lowered cars can be much safer than stupid jacked up suvs and trucks which they seem to allow.
Nitrous so far is legal in our province ,sure it will be next to go and likewise radar detectors.
And they doubled or tripled speeding and all basic traffic fines,u turns etc.
Still if you are reasonably smart you can avoid most of this stuff. Our cars are stupid loud usually so that helps. And most dsm guys don't drop it into the weeds . Try to keep your car more stock looking. They are stupid when it comes down to it most of the time and the average cop can't ticket you because he thinks your engine looks modded. The cars have factory turbos. It may take somebody with lawyer relatives or friends to fight this stupid laws but it is the dumb ricer fast and furious movie thing that has got people into this mess.
The muscle car guys in my town raced outside city limits for years and years. The city police have no jurisdiction the local rcmp don't really care. No problem. Then the stupid ricer thing happens and they are being idiots running each other on main streets right in plain sight of the cops. well Duh!!
I am lucky being older don't get stopped or hassled much and if I did and they did try to pull my car off the road for no good reason and a big fmic is not a good reason then they will be in for a world of counter lawsuits and whatever else I and many many car enthusiasts will think of.
And hey guess if you can't win then buy a nice fast vette or factory supertype car and what can they do. Pull you over cause you drive a stock z06?

Were they deaf?? I SAID WERE THEY DEAF?! (just in case you are by now lol)

Stock is definitely the way to go for a daily driver. The 92 Lasers that didn't even come with a rear spoiler is probably the safest bet.

I'm going to print off this article thing and show it to my sister, see what she has to say about it. I'll even take a look in her highway traffic act book to see what the actual words say.
When you get pulled over for something stupid, it's always fun to quote the highway traffic act and see the stupid look on the cops face.

Here in Sask things have been getting progressivly worse for us tuners. I haven't had a problem with it yet as even with my massine not-so-muffler that I plan on changing my turbo 1G is still less loud then most of the hondas around. The key is don't drive like a dick and you will be ok. There are drag stips all over Canada so no one has an excuse to run on the streets. That being said I have seen street races and people G-Teching, never any of my friends in the city but there are people racing in town here. Most of those racing are the cavaliers and hondas. The worst tickets I have heard about here is the no shift pattern on your shift knob. Like seriously If you are driving the car you should know the shift pattern if you don't know the pattern the car is more then likely stolen or borrowed or something. The air filter ticket someone posted about is just retarted!

Wow, after reading this I didn't realize how bad it really is.
Looks like I'll have to be putting in my cat in pretty soo.
Honestly, I don't think we Dsmer's get harrased all that much our cars are pretty stock looking as they are except for the FMIC'S and I haven't heard of anyone getting pulled over for having one.

Last summer on the way to the Cayuga they we're pulling over every civic and integra possible and I went right by a couple of cops as they we're stopping everyone and they didn't even bother me and my previous muffler was loud as hell.

All I know is that I was young and dumb as well, and I street raced my Stang at Pine Valley and & 7 area a few years back, sure I got caught a few times but never did they threaten to take my car away, just the usual slap on the wrist.

All I know is if this keeps going the way it is my mom's Sunfire is starting to look better and better .

My 99 TA came from factory with a Hurst shifter no pattern on it at all just an big H. So let them try. I will plead not guilty and better win. I look forward to going to court and fighting these retarded tickets and advise everyone to do the same. Don't pay the stupid ones and any ticket not for real safety issues like a 300 dollar air filter ticket. .Are you guys serious?
Can you just bolt on stock one and go to station and show you put it back to stock or is the ticket final like a speeding ticket? I would be fighting those thats absolutely groundless or simply everyone should refuse point blank to open your hood. But then likely they will tow your car. This is all crap. Its not quite that bad here yet but give it time..